The GBT PRIMOS Project - Searching for our Molecular Origins

The GBT PRIMOS Project: Searching for our Molecular
Origins

Astrobiology
undoubtedly begins with the formation of prebiotic molecules
in interstellar clouds. The inventory of interstellar
molecules presently stands at ~157 different species. Over
the last several years, the GBT has been used to detect 11
new interstellar molecules - all are large (6 to 11 atoms),
organic, and prebiotic in some measure. This survey will be
the deepest spectral line survey to date toward the
pre-eminent source of molecules in the Galaxy, the Galactic
center region around Sgr B2N. The data will be provided to
the astronomical community on a quarterly basis (as
available) as data accumulate in order to facilitate the
identification of new interstellar species and deduce likely
molecular formation chemistry.